Joseph. de Bell. lib. i. c. 5. sect. 2.

"The Pharisees

were reckoned the most religious of any of the Jews, and to be the most exact and skilful in explaining the laws."

In the original, there is an agreement not only in the sense, but in the expression, it being the same Greek adjective, which is rendered 'strait' in the Acts, and 'exact' in Josephus.

XVI. Mark, vii. 3, 4.

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. c. 10. sect. 6. "The Pharisees have delivered to the people many institutions, as received from the fathers, which are not written in the law of Moses."

XVII. Acts, xxiii. 8.

Joseph. de Bell. lib. c. 8. sect. 14. "They (the Pharisees) believe every soul to be immortal, but that the soul of the good only passes into another body, and that the soul of the wicked is punished with eternal punishment." On the other hand, (Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 1. sect. 4), "It is the opinion of the Sadducees, that souls perish with the bodies."

XVIII. Acts, v. 17. Saint Luke here intimates, that the high-priest was a Sadducee, which is a character one would not have expected to meet with in that station. The circumstance, remarkable as it is, was not however without examples.

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xiii. c. 10. sect. 6, 7. "John Hyrcanus, high-priest of the Jews, forsook the Pharisees upon a disgust, and joined himself to the party of the Sadducees." This high-priest died one hundred and seven years before the Christian era.

Again, (Antiq. lib. xx. c. 8. sect. 1.) "This Ananus the younger, who, as we have said just now, had received the high-priesthood, was fierce and haughty in his behaviour, and, above all men, bold and daring, and, moreover, was of the sect of the Sudducees." This highpriest lived little more than twenty-years after the transaction in the Acts.

XIX. Luke, ix. 51.

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xx. c. 5. sect. 1. "It was the custom of the Galileans, who went up to the holy city at

the feasts, to travel through the country of Samaria. As they were in their journey, some inhabitants of the village called Ginæa, which lies on the borders of Samaria and the great plain, falling upon them, killed a great many of them."

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XX. John, iv. 20. "Our fathers," said the Sawaritan woman, worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 5. sect. 1. "Commanding them to meet him at mount Gerizim, which is by them (the Samaritans) esteemed the most sacred of all mountains."

XXI. Matt. xxvi: 3. "Then assembled together the chief priests, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high-priest, who was called Caiaphas." That Caiaphas was high priest, and high-priest throughout the presidentship of Pontius Pilate, and consequently at this time, appears from the following account:-He was made high-priest by Valerius Gratus, predecessor of Pontius Pilate, and was removed from his office by Vitellius, president of Syria, after Pilate was sent away out of the province of Judea. Josephus relates the advancement of Caiaphas to the high-priesthood in this manner: "Gratus gave the high-priesthood to Simon, the son of Camithus. He having enjoyed this honour not above a year, was succeeded by Joseph, who is also called Caiaphas.* After this, Gratus went away for Rome, having been eleven years in Judea; and Pontins Pilate came thither as his successor. 99 Of the removal of Caiaphas from his office, Josephus, likewise, afterward informs us; and connects it with a circumstance which fixes the time to a date subsequent to the determination of Pilate's government-"Vitellius," he tells "ordered Pilate to repair to Rome; and after that, went up himself to Jerusalem, and then gave directions concerning several matters. And having done these things, he took away the priesthood from the high-priest Joseph, who is called Caiaphas.†

us,

* Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 2. sect. 2.

Ibid. 1. xx. c. 5. sect. 2; c. 9. sect. 2.

XXII. Acts, xxiii. 4. "And they that stood by, said, Revilest thou God's high-priest? Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high-priest." Now, upon inquiry into the history of the age, it turns out, that Ananias, of whom this is spoken, was, in truth, not the highpriest, though he was sitting in judgment in that assumed capacity. The case was, that he had formerly holden the office, and had been deposed; that the person who succeeded him had been murdered; that another was not yet appointed to the station; and that, during the vacancy, he had, of his own authority, taken upon himself the discharge of the office.* This singular situation of the high-priesthood took place during the interval between the death of Jonathan, who was murdered by order of Felix, and the accession of Ismael who was invested with the high-priesthood by Agrippa; and precisely in this interval it happened that Saint Paul was apprehended, and brought before the Jewish council.

XXIII. Matt, xxvi. 59. "Now the chief priests and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against him."

"Then

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. c. 15. sect. 3, 4. might be seen the high priests themselves, with ashes on their heads, and their breasts naked."

The agreement here consists in speaking of the high priests or chief priests (for the name in the original is the same) in the plural number, when, in strictness, there was only one high priest: which may be considered as a proof that the Evangelists were habituated to the manner of speaking then in use, because they retain it when it is neither accurate nor just.

Luke iii. 1.

There is a passage in Josephus very nearly parallel to this, and which may at least serve to vindicate the Evangelists from objection, with respect to his giving the title of high priest specifically to two persons at the same time: "Quadratus sent two others of the most powerful men of the Jews, as also the high priests Jonathan and

* Ibid. 1. xvii. c. 5. sect. 3.

Ananias."* That Annas was a person in an eminent station, and possessed an authority co-ordinate with, or next to, that of the high priest properly so called, may be inferred from Saint John's Gospel, which, in the history of Christ's crucifixion, relates that "the soldiers led him away to Annas first." And this might be noticed as an example of undesigned coincidence in the two Evangelists.

Again, Acts iv. 6, Annas is called the high priest, though Caiaphas was in the office of the high priesthood. In like manner, in Josephus,‡ Joseph the son of Gorion, and the high priest Ananus, were chosen to be supreme governors of all things in the city." Yet Ananus, though here called the high priest Ananus, was not then in the office of the high priesthood. The truth is, there is an indeterminateness in the use of this title in the Gospel: sometimes it is applied exclusively to the person who held the office at the time; sometimes to one or two more, who probably shared with him some of the powers or functions of the office; and, sometimes, to such of the priests as were eminent by their station or character;§ and there is the very same indeterminateness in Josephus.

XXIV. John, xix. 19, 20. "And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross." That such was the custom of the Romans on these occasions, appears from passages of Suetonius and Dio Cassius: "Patrem familias-canibus objecit, cum hoc titulo, Impiè locutus parmularius." Suet. Domit. cap. x. And in Dio Cassius we have the following: "Having led him through the midst of the court or assembly, with a writing signifying the cause of his death, and afterward crucifying him." Book liv.

Ib. "And it was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin." That it was also usual about this time, in Jerusalem, to set up advertisements in different languages, is gathered from the account which Josephus gives of an expostulatory message from Titus to the Jews, when the city was almost in his hands; in which he says, "Did ye not erect

* De Bell. lib. ix. c. 12, sect. 6.
↑ Lib. ii. c. 20, sect. 3.

↑ xviii. 13.
§ Mark, xiv. 53.

pillars with inscriptions on them, in the Greek and in our language, Let no one pass beyond these bounds?” XXV. Matt. xxvii. 26. "When he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.”

The following passages occur in Josephus:

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Being beaten, they were crucified opposite to the citadel.' 99*

"Whom, having first scourged with whips, he crucified."t

"He was burnt alive, having been first beaten."‡

To which may be added one from Livy, lib. xi. c. 5. "Productique omnes, virgisque casi, ac securi percussi."

XXVI. John, xix. 16. "And they took Jesus, and led him away, and he, bearing his cross, went forth." Plutarch, De iis qui serò puniuntur, p. 554: à Paris, 1624. Every kind of wickedness produces its own particular torment, just as every malefactor, when he is brought forth to execution, carries his own cross.

XXVII. John, xix. 32. "Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him."

Constantine abolished the punishment of the cross; in commending which edict, a heathen writer notices this very circumstance of breaking the legs: "Eo pius, ut etiam vetus veterrimumque supplicium, patibulum, et cruribus suffringendis, primus removerit." Aur. Vict. Ces. cap. xli.

XXVIII. Acts, iii. 1.

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xv. c. 7. sect 8.

"Twice every

day, in the morning and at the ninth hour, the priests perform their duty at the altar."

XXIX. Acts xv. 21.

Joseph. contra Ap. 1. ii." He (Moses) gave us the law; the most excellent of all institutions; nor did he appoint that it should be heard once only, or twice, or often,